US - Tanzania Dissertation Enhancement: Does climate change drive population divergence in African highlands? Investigations through spatially explicit paleoclimate analyses

美国-坦桑尼亚论文强化：气候变化是否导致非洲高地的人口分化？

• 批准号: 0841641
• 负责人: John Bates
• 金额: $ 1.44万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-04-15 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0841641&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; Tanzania; Dissertation; Enhancement; Does

Under this Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Project, Ms. Lucinda Lawson will conduct further research in Tanzania in the exploration of genetic variation within and between populations of African reed frogs and incorporates spatial distribution and landscape characteristics to understand the biological and evolutionary processes that have produced the observed patterns of variation. This project investigates the population genetics of three co-occurring montane members of the genus Hyperolius, which have an endemic diversification within these mountains. Preliminary results indicate that populations show significant structure throughout this area, with a clear pattern of Northward colonization, potentially mitigated by climate cycles. The Eastern Arc Mountains are a Conservation International Biodiversity Hot Spot, with a substantial diversity of amphibians, almost all of which are endemic to this tiny area. Lawson will sample localities predicted by bioclim models in Diva-GIS from the paraphyletic ?break zone? between haplotypes. She will also extend this work through the highlands of Malawi to sample populations thought to be outgroups to all Eastern Arc populations. During this time Lawson will be working with W. Ngalason (Tanzanian PhD student) on elevational patterns of Eastern Arc amphibians in the field and in the collections at the University of Dar es Salaam, and will conduct survey work of understudied mountains with the East African Montane Herpetology working group, of which she and W. Ngalason are members. This study will be one of the first to combine ecological and phylogenetic information for a genus of African frogs to assess the effects of historic habitat fragmentation on populations. This system is ideal for combining climatic/landscape modeling and cutting-edge molecular techniques to investigate the evolutionary processes that helped shape variation in a poorly known, megadiverse and threatened system. Such studies have important implications for conservation planning.This research program has a strong focus on working with local Tanzanian researchers and students, providing training in sampling, monitoring techniques, and population genetics. Pressure for agricultural lands, extensive logging of forests and other activities in Tanzania have drastically reduced the available montane habitat in this tropical region and developing a strong local involvement in monitoring and conservation is the key to keeping this system alive. Though the primary focus of this study is to enhance our understanding of the dynamics of a ?meta-population? in a naturally fragmented landscape, the researchers are also collecting information on communities as well as distributional, ecological, and behavioral data. Upon completion of this work, all resulting scientific papers will be submitted to the Tanzanian research council (COSTECH) and the Tanzanian Wildlife Department (TAWIRI), as dictated by collection permits and published in both US journals and African Journals to allow access to these findings for the researchers who need them most. In Illinois, Lawson has given talks on evolution, climate change and conservation, and amphibian declines to grade and high school children and groups at the Field Museum. This research program will be extended to include a student mentorship project through the Illinois Math & Science Academy and University of Chicago undergraduates will be incorporated in the analysis of genetic patterns and modeling of processes, providing a valuable research experience to potential future evolutionary and conservation biologists.

Lucinda Lawson女士将在坦桑尼亚进行进一步的研究，探索非洲芦苇蛙种群内部和种群之间的遗传变异，并结合空间分布和景观特征，以了解产生观察到的变异模式的生物和进化过程。本项目调查了三种共同发生的山地成员的种群遗传学，它们在这些山区具有地方性多样化。初步结果表明，整个地区的种群结构明显，具有明显的向北殖民化模式，可能受到气候周期的影响。东弧山脉是保护国际生物多样性的热点地区，拥有丰富多样的两栖动物，几乎所有这些都是这个小地区特有的。劳森将对Diva-GIS中生物气候模型预测的地点进行抽样，从paraphyletic ？打破区域?单体型之间。她还将把这项工作扩展到马拉维高地的样本人群，这些样本人群被认为是所有东弧人口的外群体。在此期间，Lawson将与W. Ngalason（坦桑尼亚博士生）一起在野外和达累斯萨拉姆大学的收藏中研究东Arc两栖动物的海拔模式，并将与东非山地爬行动物学工作组一起对未被充分研究的山脉进行调查工作，她和W. Ngalason都是该工作组的成员。这项研究将是第一个结合非洲蛙属的生态和系统发育信息来评估历史栖息地破碎化对种群的影响的研究之一。该系统是结合气候/景观建模和尖端分子技术来研究进化过程的理想选择，这些进化过程有助于在一个鲜为人知的、巨大多样性和受威胁的系统中形成变化。这些研究对保护规划具有重要意义。这个研究项目的重点是与坦桑尼亚当地的研究人员和学生合作，提供采样、监测技术和种群遗传学方面的培训。在坦桑尼亚，农业用地的压力、森林的广泛砍伐和其他活动大大减少了这一热带地区可用的山地栖息地，发展当地对监测和保护的强有力参与是保持这一系统生存的关键。虽然这项研究的主要焦点是加强我们对“meta-population”动态的理解。在一个自然破碎的景观中，研究人员还收集了社区信息以及分布、生态和行为数据。这项工作完成后，所有产生的科学论文将按照收集许可证的规定提交给坦桑尼亚研究委员会（COSTECH）和坦桑尼亚野生动物部（TAWIRI），并在美国期刊和非洲期刊上发表，以便最需要这些发现的研究人员能够获得这些发现。在伊利诺斯州，劳森在菲尔德博物馆给小学生和高中生和团体做了关于进化、气候变化和保护以及两栖动物衰退的演讲。这项研究计划将扩展到包括一个由伊利诺斯州数学科学院和芝加哥大学本科生组成的学生指导项目，该项目将纳入遗传模式分析和过程建模，为潜在的未来进化和保护生物学家提供宝贵的研究经验。